Commentary, sarcasm and snide remarks from a Florida resident of over thirty years. Being a glutton for punishment is a requirement for residency here.
Who am I? I've been called a moonbat by Michelle Malkin, a Right Wing Nut by Daily Kos, and middle of the road by Florida blog State of Sunshine. Tell me what you think.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Welcome to South Florida the rules are different here

So went a song about 10 years ago. This area is very fickle in many ways.

One is the weather. The threat of hurricanes is not dismissed any more after 2004.

What is going on that is causing me to write? Sand. Sand blown across the Atlantic ocean from the Sahara desert. It's really happening, the sky looked so odd to me this morning. Supposedly the sunrise and sunsets witll be different.

So far it isn't playing havoc with the wife's asthma. Could alot of sand affect the car? I don't think it's that heavy. Any way here is a link to a Palm Beach Post article explaining what is going on here.

By Sandra Hong Palm Beach Post Staff WriterMonday, July 25, 2005

As early as today, a dust cloud from the Sahara Desert is expected to settle over much of Florida, a not-uncommon summertime phenomenon that forecasters said could cast a deeper hue to the rising or setting sun or leave a fine film of dust on your car.

The massive cloud — nearly the size of the continental United States — will likely arrive before Wednesday and dissipate before crossing Florida. Meteorologists said it is not expected to pose any serious health risks.

"It's more of a curiosity thing," said Bart Hagemeyer, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Melbourne. "Shows how weather is interrelated across the globe."

Tropical waves generate a strong wind over the Atlantic, lifting up dust along the African coastline to heights of 10,000 feet or more, Hagemeyer said. The dust particles drift westward on a dry tropical wave.

Tropical waves off Africa also can generate hurricanes.

Early Sunday afternoon, the dust cloud was around Puerto Rico and the eastern Caribbean, Hagemeyer said. Low pressure drifting southward could keep the dust concentrated in South Florida, he said.

Satellite imagery shows the dust cloud as a milky-colored mass, which could make skies look hazy, forecasters said.

"It's possible on a clear evening, you'll have a different shading to the sunset," said Bob Ebaugh, a weather service specialist in Miami. The thin layer of dust that could settle on cars is not unlike what happens after a dry spell, Ebaugh said. "But it's something that's not typically a hazardous condition in South Florida."

While dust storms have not been shown to cause widespread health problems here, the U.S. Geological Survey has linked Saharan sand to the bacteria and fungus that have been damaging coral reefs in the Caribbean.